7/24/2013 – The 50th Canadian Open Chess Championship in Ottawa saw 178 players, including 12 GMs, competing in a nine-round Swiss. Nigel Short and Eric Hansen tied for first, with Short taking the title on tie-break. He is practically a resident, so often has he visited and played in the city. There were plenty of interesting games at the 2013 Championship, as John Upper shows in his giant pictorial report.
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2013
Canadian Open Chess Championship
Report from Ottawa by John Upper
The 50th Canadian Open Chess Championship took place to Ottawa, from July
13-20, 2013. 178 players, including 12 GMs and 11 IMs, competed in a single-section,
nine-round Swiss. GMs Nigel Short and Eric Hansen tied for first with 7.5/9,
with Short taking the title on tie-break.
Going into the event, the favourite had to be GM Lazaro Bruzon of Cuba.
Not only was he the top-rated player, he had just come from a very convincing
victory at the Edmonton International with 8/9, where he had beaten two
of his leading Canadian Open rivals: Nigel Short and Eric Hansen.
In the event, he was perhaps a bit unfortunate in his third-round pairing
against fellow Cuban IM Rodney Oscar Perez Garcia, who held him to a draw.
Bruzon fought back to tie for the lead after seven rounds, but draws in
his last two games left him 1/2 point back of the winners. Here one of the
key games:
GM Ivan Sokolov (above right, playing Nigel Short in round six) made his
first tournament appearance in Canada. While it would be silly to call a
perennial 2600+ player with multiple tournament wins over Anand, Aronian,
Topalov, Kortchnoi, Short, Shirov, and Carlsen, an “unknown quantity”,
it is also true that most of Sokolov's tournaments are elite round-robins
and not win-or-finish-out-of-the-prizes Swiss events. Then again, Sokolov
has already proved he can excel in the win-or-die of a big money Swiss when
he won the 2012 World Open in Philadelphia.
Sokolov turned in the result of a consummate tournament professional at
the Canadian Open: winning his first five games to take the outright lead,
before drawing his final four to cruise home in a tie for second place.
GM Eduardas Rozentalis (above), unlike Sokolov, is no stranger to Canada,
having played many times in Ontario and Quebec, including twice tying for
1st at the Canadian Open (1995 in Toronto, 2008 in Montreal). This year
he was not so successful, losing in round 6 on board 2 to Bruzon, and being
held to draws by Canadian IM's Arthur Calugar, Raja Panjwani, and Ottawa
Master Armando Valdizon.
GM Bator Sambuev first came to Canada for the 2007 Canadian Open in Ottawa
(where he tied for second) and he hasn't left! Now a Canadian citizen living
in Montreal with his wife and son, Bator is the defending Canadian Closed
champion, and undisputed King of Canadian weekend Swiss tournaments, winning
over 70 Canadian tournaments since he moved here. Bator didn't add to his
total this week: losing to Iranian GM Elshan Moradiabadi and Canadian IM
Arthur Calugar (a chess-scholarship student at UTD, who had an excellent
tournament, drawing with Rozentalis and losing only to tournament winner
Nigel Short).
GM Elshan Moradiabadi, Iran's #1 rated player, also made his tournament
debut in Canada. In addition to giving private lessons to two lucky juniors,
he gave a Monday morning lecture which combined the best of his GM and FIDE
Trainer titles with his MBA studies: "How To Be Efficient in Your Tournaments
or Play According to Your Core Competency."
In what was one of the best lectures I've attended, he compared Carlsen's
strengths and weaknesses (not many) with Anand's, to reach what I thought
was a persuasive and interesting conclusion: that Anand's strength at deep
and sharp opening preparation is a perfect weapon against Carlsen's great
strength at heuristic-guided manoeuvring.
GM Moradiabadi (above right, playing Eric Hansen
in round six) contended all the way through, but finished out of the big-money
after losses to the two winners.
Canada's #1 FIDE-rated player, and the defending Canadian Open champion,
GM Eric Hansen did not disappoint, defeating GMs Vera and Moradiabadi, and
drawing with Short and Sokolov. Friendly, if reserved, when not playing,
Eric's intense concentration combined with his height and physical build
might well make him an intimidating OTB opponent for many players. His strong
showing this week not only earned him $4000 and a share of first place,
it suggests he is coming into form as the World Cup approaches. Here one
of his games at the Canadian Open:
[Event "2013 Canadian Open"] [Site "Ottawa"] [Date "2013.07.14"] [Round
"3"] [White "Song, Michael"] [Black "Hansen, Eric"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO
"D98"] [WhiteElo "2390"] [BlackElo "2587"] [Annotator "John"] [PlyCount
"54"] [EventDate "2013.07.??"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "CAN"]
[Source "John Upper"] [SourceDate "2013.07.22"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3.
Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 Bg4 8. Be3 Nfd7 9. O-O-O
Nb6 10. Qc5 e5 11. d5 N8d7 12. Qa3 Nc8 13. h3 (13. Kb1 Nd6 14. Rc1 f5
15. h3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 a6 17. h4 f4 18. Bc5 Nxc5 19. Qxc5 h5 20. Bh3 Bf6
21. Be6+ Kg7 {1/2-1/2 (21) Sosonko,G (2470)-Smejkal,J (2600) Wijk aan
Zee 1975}) 13... Bxf3 14. gxf3 a6 15. h4 h5 16. f4 $6 {White's centre
pawns aren't going anywhere, but now Black's Bg7 is in the game. Maybe
White should consider playing on the c-file instead with Kb1 and Rc1,
as in the Sosonko game above.} exf4 17. Bxf4 Nd6 18. Bg5 Qe8 19. f3 b5
20. Nb1 Nb6 21. b3 f5 $1 { White's center collapses, his King is exposed,
and his pieces can't run any further from the centre than they alreay
are.} 22. exf5 Rxf5 23. Bh3 Rxd5 24. Rxd5 Nxd5 25. Qc5 Qe5 26. Qc2 Kh7
27. Rg1 Nb4 0-1
GM Nigel Short tied for first and took the title on tie-break. Scoring
7.5/9 he conceded draws only to his closest rivals: Hansen, Sokolov and
Bruzon.
Despite the fact that he has to commute from Athens, Nigel's win could
almost be described as a home-town victory, since (apart from GM Sambuev,
who plays in Ottawa regularly) Nigel has played more chess in Ottawa than
any of the other top players at the Canadian Open, including most of the
Canadians. In addition to playing in the 2007 Canadian Open, Nigel has given
simuls, lectures, and competed in a fund-raising event in Ottawa on three
separate occasions. Most of the credit for this has to go to his super-host
and sommelier, Gordon Ritchie. Thanks Gordon.
In 2007 Nigel came to the Canadian Open in Ottawa with his daughter Kyveli.
That year he finished 1/2 point behind winner Bu Xiangzhi. This year, he
was accompanied by his 14-year old son Nicholas, who also played in the
Open. When both their round six games opened 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 one might
almost have suspected that Nigel had brought Nicholas as a second. In fact,
Nicholas was playing in his first tournament.
Nicholas Short in a white t-shirt in the foreground
of this panorama picture of the playing hall
Yes, his first. If you think having a world-famous Grandmaster father means
the children will play chess, you just don't understand teenagers: Nicholas
is getting into chess because his friends play, not because his dad does.
While we are at it, here's another scrollable
panorama of the playing hall
The 2013 Canadian Open ended with one Short at the top of the crosstable,
and another Short at the bottom. And this year there are a few players leaving
Ottawa who can truthfully if a little disingenuously boast, “I played
N. Short! He came all the way from Athens, and I won!”
Here a few additional game impressions from the 2013 Canadian Open:
[Event "2013 Canadian Open"] [Site "Ottawa"] [Date "2013.07.17"] [Round
"8.15"] [White "Valdizon, Armando"] [Black "Arencibia, Walter"] [Result
"1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2219"] [BlackElo "2526"] [Annotator
"John"] [PlyCount "109"] [EventDate "2013.07.??"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry
"CAN"] [Source "John Upper"] [SourceDate "2013.07.22"] {One of the attractions
for average club players of a big Open event is the chance to play a very
strong opponent or two in the early rounds. With no accelerated pairings
at the 2013 Canadian Open, the first two rounds were relatively easy for
the top players, but gave 1900 rated players a chance to play world-class
opponents in the first round, and gave 2200 players the same chance in
the second round. Those games rarely produce upsets, but this year one
local player scored two. In the second round, Armando Valdizon drew with
GM Rozentalis, and in round 8 he drew GM Arencibia in what is certainly
one of the wildest games ever to come out of the "boring" London System.}
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 e6 3. Bf4 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. e3 Bd6 6. Nbd2 Bxf4 7. exf4
cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. cxd4 Qb6 10. Qb3 Qxd4 11. Bb5+ Kf8 12. Qa3+ Ne7 13.
Rc1 Qxf4 14. O-O Qxd2 15. Rc7 Qg5 16. Qd6 g6 17. f4 Qf6 18. Rfc1 Rg8 19.
Qd8+ Kg7 20. Qxe7 Rf8 21. b4 a6 22. Be8 Qd4+ 23. Kh1 Qxf4 24. Kg1 g5 $2
(24... Qd4+ $1 25. Kh1 Qf6 $1 $19 26. Qxf6+ Kxf6 27. Rxc8 Rxe8 $19) 25.
Rf1 $11 Rxe8 $8 26. Qc5 $8 b6 27. Qc6 Qe3+ 28. Kh1 Rf8 29. Qxa8 Qe2 30.
Kg1 Bd7 31. Qb7 Be8 32. Qxb6 (32. Re7 {(/\Rxe8)} Qe3+ 33. Kh1 Qe2 34.
Kg1 $11) 32... Bb5 33. Rfc1 Bc4 34. a4 e5 35. Qf2 Qxf2+ 36. Kxf2 Rb8 37.
Rb1 Rb6 38. Rc5 h5 39. b5 axb5 40. axb5 f6 41. Ke3 Kf7 42. Kd2 Ke6 43.
Kc3 Kd6 44. Kb4 e4 45. Ra1 e3 46. Re1 e2 47. Rxc4 dxc4 48. Kxc4 Rb8 49.
Rxe2 Rc8+ 50. Kb4 Rc1 51. Rf2 Rb1+ 52. Ka5 Kc7 53. Rxf6 Ra1+ 54. Kb4 Ra2
55. Rh6 1/2-1/2
[Event "2013 Canadian Open"] [Site "Ottawa"] [Date "2013.07.20"] [Round
"9.2"] [White "Hambleton, Aman"] [Black "Hansen, Eric"] [Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"] [WhiteElo "2580"] [BlackElo "2587"] [Annotator "John"] [PlyCount
"46"] [EventDate "2013.07.??"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "CAN"]
[Source "John Upper"] [SourceDate "2013.07.22"] {There couldn't have been
a more awkward final-round opponent for Eric than IM Aman Hambleton. They're
friends, they prepare openings together, and they're moving to Spain next
month to begin their careers as chess professionals, competing in individual
tournaments and on Club teams. Their final round game was sharp, highly
theoretical, and short.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5.
Bd2 Bg7 6. e4 Nxc3 7. Bxc3 O-O 8. Qd2 c5 9. d5 e6 10. Bc4 exd5 11. Bxd5
Nd7 12. Nf3 (12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. h4 h6 14. O-O-O Nb6 15. Qc3+ Qf6 16. Ne2
Qxc3+ 17. Nxc3 $14 {1-0 (49) Hambleton,A (2468) -Poobalasingam,P (2211)
Ascot 2013}) 12... Nf6 13. O-O Nxd5 14. exd5 Qd6 15. Bxg7 (15. Rfe1 f6
16. b4 b6 17. bxc5 bxc5 18. Rab1 Bf5 19. Rb7 Rf7 20. Rxf7 Kxf7 $13 {0-1
(39) Ulibin,M (2531) -Avrukh,B (2605) Biel 2012}) 15... Kxg7 16. Qc3+
Kg8 17. Ne5 Re8 18. Rfe1 Qxd5 19. Rad1 Qxa2 20. Ra1 Qd5 21. Rad1 Qa2 22.
Ra1 ({Engines give this:} 22. Nxg6 $1 Rxe1+ 23. Rxe1 fxg6 24. Re8+ Kf7
25. Qe1 $8 Be6 26. Rxa8 Qxb2 27. Qd1 {and rate it as +/-, but OTB I'm
not sure who which side has the better chances.}) 22... Qd5 23. Rad1 Qa2
1/2-1/2
[Event "2013 Canadian Open"] [Site "Ottawa"] [Date "2013.07.14"] [Round
"3"] [White "Song, Michael"] [Black "Hansen, Eric"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO
"D98"] [WhiteElo "2390"] [BlackElo "2587"] [Annotator "John"] [PlyCount
"54"] [EventDate "2013.07.??"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "CAN"]
[Source "John Upper"] [SourceDate "2013.07.22"] {If Hambleton - Hansen
shows the down-side of playing the Gruenfeld against a very well prepared
opponent, this game shows what happens if White doesn't have the same
feel for the unbalanced Grunfeld middlegames.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3
d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 Bg4 8. Be3 Nfd7 9. O-O-O Nb6
10. Qc5 e5 11. d5 N8d7 12. Qa3 Nc8 13. h3 (13. Kb1 Nd6 14. Rc1 f5 15.
h3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 a6 17. h4 f4 18. Bc5 Nxc5 19. Qxc5 h5 20. Bh3 Bf6 21.
Be6+ Kg7 {1/2-1/ 2 (21) Sosonko,G (2470)-Smejkal,J (2600) Wijk aan Zee
1975}) 13... Bxf3 14. gxf3 a6 15. h4 h5 16. f4 $6 {White's centre pawns
aren't going anywhere, but now Black's Bg7 is in the game. Maybe White
should consider playing on the c-file instead with Kb1 and Rc1, as in
the Sosonko game above.} exf4 17. Bxf4 Nd6 18. Bg5 Qe8 19. f3 b5 20. Nb1
Nb6 21. b3 f5 $1 {White's center collapses, his King is exposed, and his
pieces can't run any further from the centre than they alreay are.} 22.
exf5 Rxf5 23. Bh3 Rxd5 24. Rxd5 Nxd5 25. Qc5 Qe5 26. Qc2 Kh7 27. Rg1 Nb4
0-1
Some video: Why Capablaca didn't play ...h6 - Sokolov-Hansen
GMs Ivan Sokolov (NED) and Eric Hansen (CAN) engaged in a 25-minute-long
postmortem of their seventh-round game at the 2013 Canadian Open Chess Championship.
Hansen suffers for a long time in an Orthodox QGD, but will Ivan Sokolov
be able to prove that Capablaca was right not to play ...h6.
You can also use ChessBase
12 or any of our Fritz
compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can
also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give
you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.
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